Till Death Do Us Part
by ayanotateyuri
Summary: They told him that he'd be paired up with a more experienced Black Mage named Hiyori. Sure she may have a bit of a temper, but she'll teach you a lot, so go with her. But little did Hibiya know just how dangerous Hiyori was. Now that they're being made to journey into the depths of Panzermast together with some other companions, will they be able to work together, or not...?
1. Hiyori Learns Some New Tricks

_**Author's Note**_

_Okay, so remember my other RPG AU hibihiyo fanfic? This has nothing to do with it, plotwise. Hibiya is still a White Mage and Hiyori is still a Black Mage, and that's all. This will have multiple parts, and perhaps it will rival The Hiyori Trap in length because I have lots of ideas for this one. Please enjoy the first part!_

* * *

"This stupid freaking HAT!" Hiyori exclaimed in frustration as her floppy, oversized, yellow hat fell down over her face for the umpteenth time. "Why the hell did they make me wear this stupid uniform? I can prove I'm a Black Mage just fine without it!" She adjusted the cone shaped, wide brimmed hat with a wounded humph, as it cast a shadow on her once more. She was clad in the Academy Black Mage standard issue blue jacket, but it was so long on her short body that it served as a dress, and the Academy conceded to allowing her to wear a pair of shorts underneath the complicated jacket instead of forcing her to wear the oversized, poofy pants with it as well.

Hibiya pulled his white hood over his head a little tighter, frowning slightly at his whining partner. "Come on, you know we have to wear our uniforms at least for our certification test. You wouldn't be having so much trouble if you wore your jacket all the time like I wear my robes all the time." The White Mage shrugged as he dragged his staff along the road that they walked on, which led to the dungeon where they would be taking their test, the red triangles lining his white robes contrasting sharply against Hiyori's blue jacket. Surrounding them was nothing but empty, green fields, pockmarked by the occasional ruins of a small cottage every so often near the side of the road.

"Oh, shut up," the girl replied, rolling her eyes. "It's not my fault you don't look good in anything else, idi- HEY!" Her insult was quickly cut short by Hibiya pulling her to the ground by the collar of her jacket, forcing her to ground, the boy landing heavily on top of her. Her black, ribbonlike hair spread out messily on the dusty road, her hat barely staying on her head.

"W-W-What do you THINK you're doing?" Hiyori started stuttering in rage, barely unable to contain her absolute confusion at the situation. "Get the FUCK off of me, I'll tear you-" Once again, she was cut short, but this time not by Hibiya. A trio of wickedly sharp icicles flung themselves through the air, shredding the space where the two had occupied not five seconds ago. Not wasting any time, Hibiya rolled off of his companion with a grunt and dragged her roughly behind a ruined cottage wall for cover.

"You're welcome," Hibiya muttered, looking off to the side like a shounen anime protagonist.

"No, no thank you!" Hiyori whispered sharply, still vibrating with fury. "Why'd you have to throw me to the ground? Gross! If someone's trying to kill us with magic, throw up a Shell! What the hell are you even a White Mage for? Frickin' brute!"

Hibiya balked under Hiyori's lecture, blushing shamefully at her lecture. "Well… I thought… it'd be cool," he said under his breath, but Hiyori was already peeking over the wall, scanning for their attacker.

He wasn't very hard to find; a man stood dumbly in the middle of the road ahead of them, shielding his eyes against the sun and searching for their corpses. He wore standard mage clothes under a huge green cape, but his strangest feature was what he wore on his head. Held up by a red band around his head was a long horn on his forehead, as if he aimed to pierce the light wherever he walked.

"That's…?" Hibiya started trying to phrase a question that would go along the lines of "What the fuck?"

"Summoner," Hiyori answered without pause. "Just what you'd think. They summon monsters to fight for them. That horn is meant to pierce the veil between our world and theirs. But they're also part of the Academy, why would he attack us…?" Hiyori furrowed her brow in concentration as Hibiya looked on. His partner continued to surprise him; although she had a short fuse and an explosive personality to match, she was a genius when it came to magic. She knew everything about the arcane arts from Alchemy to Zodiac compatibilities.

Their foe seemed all too eager to answer her query. "Academy bratsssssss!" He moaned out in a resentful tone, almost as if they'd offended him somehow. "Off to take your certification test, huh? Think you're gonna pass? Think you're better than everyone else that doesn't?" he continued to moan out in a loud pathetic tone. Hibiya and Hiyori shared an incredulous look, unsure of what this had to do with attempted murder.

"Don't answer, I saw that smug confidence on your faces!" he continued. "You think you're better than me, you brats! Why don't you respect your elders, huh? Huh? Let me teach you who's really better! Pain is an excellent teacher, twerps!"

Hiyori completely lost her cool with that. She thundered out from behind cover and into the middle of the road, her face red with her characteristic rage. "Well YEAH, I think I am better than a pathetic fuck like you, as a matter of fact! You think you can just try to straight up MURDER us and use 'I'm a sniveling little bitch!' as an excuse? Mister, with all due disrespect, PLEASE eat an ENTIRE bag of shit. The whole thing! Lick it clean, too!"

At this point, both Hibiya and the enemy summoner had completely blanched at the twelve year old girl's extreme verbal aggression. Even though she was still a child, her coarse language would intimidate the captain of the King's Guard when she truly lost her temper.

The summoner recoiled and then stepped forward angrily as if he'd just been shot. "W-! WHY! YOU!" he sputtered out, spittle flying out from his pursed lips.

"Too late, trash! FLARE!" Hiyori splayed out both hands in front of her in the direction of the man, her hair floating slightly behind her as currents of magic ran throughout her body. Immediately, the heat surrounding the summoner became visible, gathering into spots in the air, ready to converge into a singularity and explode into a superhot nonelemental maelstrom.

Their foe reacted too quickly for her onslaught, however. He put his hands together in prayer, and spoke an incantation, unique to summoning magic. "Impart light to fight our holy war! Carbuncleeeeee!" Of course, he finished his incantation with another pathetic whine, quite telling of this person's personality by this point.

Green spheres materialized around the mage and spiraled around him and up into the air, disappearing into the overcast sky. Suddenly, a strange, rabbitlike creature materialized above him. A large red gem was embedded in the creature's head, and as it twinkled, a similar twinkling came over the summoner, and the creature disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

Only milliseconds later did Flare finish charging, and the summoner was engulfed in all-encompassing heat.

"YA LIKE THAT?" Hiyori taunted loudly as she gave the finger in the direction of the explosion, her huge hat falling in her face one more and somewhat ruining the taunt.

The next part, however, was not standard procedure. Instead of dying out after the spell had been finished, the explosion instead rebounded off the target, and was sent flying towards Hibiya and Hiyori. The pair dove for cover once more, each mage crouching behind a ruined wall on either side of the road. When they peeked over their respective walls, they saw that the man remained unscathed, with a smug look on his rather punchable face.

"Do YOU like THAT?" he replied in his usual stupid voice, failing on the verbal aspect of intimidation although he thought he was pretty clever.

"Reflect, he has Reflect on him!" Hibiya yelled across the road to his partner as the summoner started chanting another incantation.

"No DUH!" Hiyori yelled back. "More importantly, why do I have to tell you how to do your job? SHELL! USE! SHELL! IT PROTECTS AGAINST MAGIC! USE IT AND WE WON'T HAVE TO RUN AWAY LIKE A PAIR OF-" A gigantic river of electricity coursing through the air between them drowned out her no doubt colorful comparison with its loud crackling.

"Okay, OKAY, we need to fight this thing!" Hibiya piped up when the summon had finally stopped charging the air with more volts than a giant's air conditioner used in the average year.

"How do you suggest that?" Hiyori retorted. "I can't use magic on him, it won't hurt him and it'll just reflect back to us! We have to go physical, and unless you have a bow in that bedsheet- oh, I'm sorry, _robe _of yours, that means tackling him and making him bite the curb! Now how the hell are we supposed to get close enough to that when he keeps-" An oversized pillar of flame cut her off this time, separating the road between them, sending countless blades of grass to the void. "-SPAMMING THAT?" she finished.

Hibiya stuttered in response, panicking as he tried to come up with a plan of attack. "I, I, uh, OH!" he suddenly exclaimed when the proverbial lightbulb went off in his head. "We'll run at him, and you can distract him from summoning by quickly firing whatever weak spells you have at him!" Hiyori opened her mouth to crucify him over seemingly forgetting about the problematic Reflect the foe was cowering behind, but Hibiya wasn't finished yet.

"AND, to protect us against your spells bouncing back at us, I'LL USE SHELL!" The White Mage clapped his hands together, his face bright as if he'd just invented the chocabo saddle.

"Frickin' FINALLY! Thank you!" The Black Mage replied in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "Okay, fine, we'll do that. In fact, we'll do that NOW, so let's go!" She hopped out quickly into the middle of the road once more, fully expecting Hibiya to appear at her side instantly. Luckily, her appearance broke the summoner's concentration mid incantation, and he ate his words.

Hibiya tripped clumsily on his way to Hiyori, falling on his staff, but then standing with an illusion of confidence. "S-S-Shell!" he stammered. Red beams of light surrounded the two, extending in a curve around them until they all met together in a sphere, rotating slowly until it disappeared. The two gave eachother sidelong glances, and with a nod, they started sprinting towards their target.

The summoner sputtered messily once more in surprise at their boldness, but then wasted no time in readying another summon. "Slash away with the Land's fu-"

"Blizzard!" Hiyori retorted sharply, raising one hand in front of her as she sprinted alongside her White Mage companion. A small iceberg sprouted out of the ground before the summoner, rising up towards his body to pierce it before hitting the Reflect and breaking off into ice splinters which flew wickedly towards the pair. Centimeters before it hit them, the red sphere appeared around Hibiya and Hiyori once more, and they melted softly, falling to the ground as a puddle. However, their goal had been achieved; the summoner flinched mid incantation, wrecking his concentration.

"N-n-no! You stop-" he started sputtering again.

Hiyori no longer had time for his annoying voice. "Thunder!" she commanded, causing her foe to waste time with his inevitable flinching with each basic spell she threw at him. And even still, they continued to approach the summoner, Hibiya clutching his curved staff and gritting his teeth as each reflected spell taxed his willpower; although helpful and protective, Shell wasn't free. Hiyori spammed first grade magic at the summoner nonetheless. Her voice was a constant chorus of "Fire! Thunder! Blizzard!" in random order, with the odd "Bio!" thrown in for good measure.

Finally, they reached striking distance of their attacker. Like a coward, the summoner tried to turn tail and run as soon as his advantage had disappeared, but Hibiya was too quick. He twirled his staff around in his hands and thrust the small end into the back of the summoner's legs, causing his knees to buckle under him. He fell sharply to the ground and promptly ate the ground, and Hiyori jumped on his back, wasting no time in pinning him to the road, lifting up his head by his hair so his neck was poking outwards, and pulling the small utility knife from her blue coat and pressing it to the man's neck.

"Wait, wait, wait," he stuttered, panic rising in his throat like bile. "I, I, wait don't! I'll do whatever you want, really, don't, don't!" Tears started to stream from his eyes, as he was certain he was going to die, even though he'd just tried to bring two children to their deaths.

"Teach me your tricks, scum. Teach me how to summon," she rasped into the summoner's ear menacingly, causing Hibiya to blanch once more, this time in fear. Her ribbonlike hair framed her face and fell down in folds, her cone shaped hat almost giving her the appearance of horns. Her expression was that of gleeful revenge and painlust, eager to make use of her prey somehow, before brutally torturing him in the most sadistic ways possible, her eyes wide open and her pupils shrunken to tiny black dots.

"O, okay! Wait! Listen!" The summoner acquiesced, shivering under Hiyori in terror. "You, you just, you know those fairytale monsters you always hear about? Those boogeymen in the closet, those monsters that are whispered about in legend! Well, the truth is that they probably exist, in some world, in some dimension! You just have to call their name, and say something that means something to only them, and then they'll come! You have to know exactly where to look though, because these monsters are really scary and powerful, they won't let just any regular human summon them from whatever world they want-"

"Shut up, garbage, that's enough!" Hiyori commanded as she stood up suddenly, stomping roughly on the summoner's neck and keeping her foot on him, earning a moan of pain from him. As if she was planning for this ambush, she reached into her blue coat and pulled out a small storybook.

Hibiya frowned in concern, leaning on his staff. "Hey, are you sure this is okay? You heard him, those monsters are-"

"Just waiting to serve someone, obviously," Hiyori finished, not even looking up as she continued to flip through her book. "It's simple, Hibiya. I'll use whoever, or whatever I want, whether they want to be used or not." At this moment she looked up from her book, looking right into Hibiya's eyes, something she rarely did.

The White Mage's heart dropped at that moment, confused and a little hurt. _Does… she mean me? Am I being used? Am I willing to be used? Is that how this is-_

"Found my pet!" the Black Mage exclaimed suddenly, putting her book away inside her coat once more and grinding her foot into the summoner's neck a little for good measure. "I think this merits a little test of its own." She splayed her hand once more and thrust it up to the sky, as if trying to grab the sun and make it serve her as well. "Attack by the master of commandments," she intoned ominously, her face suddenly cold as stone. "Zodiark." The green spheres of light characteristic of summoning appeared around her and spiraled up into the sky, as usual. Panicked screams and muffled begging came from the summoner on the ground, as he writhed around in a futile effort to escape.

"Oh, have you heard of this particular monster, Mister?" she asked sweetly, as she backed away from the man on the ground, Hibiya following her lead, still unsure of this situation. The man immediately rolled over onto his back and tried to crawl backwards, untainted terror apparent in his eyes.

"I'm glad!" she continued, giggling creepily. "You're about to have a very bad day, it seems. Please get better soon!" Finally, as if punctuating her sarcastic wishes, a low whine whistled through the air, as if a plane was falling on them.

The monster rocketed down through the clouds, parting them in a circle and approaching its target in less than a second. It was a giant black snake, red eyes flickering on the end approaching the summoner. Six large wings sprouted from its body, all pointed upwards as the beast fell in a sheer dive. Mere inches before reaching its prey, the horrible snake opened its mouth, man sized fangs gleaming in the midday sun. A final scream could be heard from the summoner, and he disappeared in the void of the snake's mouth, as if he never existed. The beast didn't even bother to process the fact that it had just consumed someone, and instead flapped its enormous wings, rocketing back up through the clouds just as fast as it came, leaving two children standing in the road alone.

The two were left in very different states. Hiyori smiled fondly at the sky, as if an old friend had come to visit her. Hibiya, however, was trying to decide whether to scream in terror or sob. "You… he… You…! You killed him! You took his life! I, I!" Hibiya backed away a step, unsure of who this girl who takes lives so easily really was. She tilted her head, as if confused by a toy.

"And? He would have done the same to us without losing a wink of sleep. He tried really hard to do that, in fact. Are you really going to do this?" she asked, putting a finger on her cheek as if thinking. "You kill the enemies you can't use anymore, that's all there is to it."

"You could have let him go!" he cried out, panic breaking his voice. "You told him to teach you summoning, and he did! Why didn't you let him go? Why did you kill him?" He gripped his staff even harder, holding it tighter to his body, still partly unable to process what had happened.

"What, jealous that I know how to summon now? You really can't be a real mage without a secondary skill, you know," she replied, laughing quietly to herself, but stopping when she saw that Hibiya's expression hadn't changed. "What part of this is hard to understand? He was an enemy. He stopped being useful. So I erased him. His life was meaningless. He forfeited it the second he attacked us, and I collected it once he entered into uselessness. That's all. Simple."

Hibiya didn't think it was simple at all. A human life with unknown intricacies and an unknown future had disappeared, even if it was evil. As a White Mage, he had been taught since the beginning to treat all life as precious. How could it be taken away so callously…?

"So, on that note, be careful not to become an enemy, alright?" Hiyori asked quietly, before turning and continuing down their way on the road. "Now, come on, we have a test, and we don't want to be late. Partner."

Hibiya found it very difficult to follow Hiyori down the road. _Was that a threat? Will she really kill me if I stop being useful? Is the whole "partners" line… a lie? But, but, but…_

And even so,

Hibiya jogged up to her, his robes swishing against the road, and followed Hiyori.


	2. Panzermast Entry: Crying Prologue Tower

_**Author's Note**_

_We get some new faces that you may recognize in this part! Hopefully Hibiya and Hiyori can get along with them long enough to pass their certification tests. Fight scenes next chapter, don't worry!_

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"Academy units, stand at attention!" the sharp eyed man commanded. He wore a long white lab coat, and pushed his glasses up with a severity that matched his tone. "I am Commander Kenjirou Tateyama, Magus of all Chemist class units. I will be starting you off on your certification test today. First thing's first, identify yourselves, your class, and your degrees!" he barked quickly, his voice never losing its level of seriousness.

Hiyori, of course, was unintimidated, and didn't skip a beat. "Hiyori Asahina. Black Mage. Adept."

Hibiya, forever Hiyori's opposite, however, was quite confused. "H…H-Hibiya! Amamiya! White Mage! Ummm… huh?" He was unsure of what the commander meant by "degree", and went pale when he was given a death glare upon his hesitation.

His partner put her palm to her forehead and shook her head. "Idiot. What would you do without me? He's an Initiate," she spat out in disgust.

The White Mage blushed in shame and looked off to the side, as he felt the burning of Kenjirou's eyes in his skull. He didn't even know what "Initiate" meant. Fortunately, he wasn't forced to wallow in his awkwardness for long, as a suit of armor crashed into him from the side, sending him flying into Hiyori, who offered only a kick back into position as support.

"We're late, oh dear, oh dear, I knew we took the wrong road back there! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry we're late!" the suit of armor blubbered, or rather, whoever was inside. The armor was coal black, and fringed with blue lines and designs. The shoulders were spiked, and the helmet was hooked like a hawk's beak, under which all that could be seen of the wearer's face was the glowing white eyes. Around the armor wearer's neck was a long red scarf. Throughout this entire description, the person inside the armor continued to ramble on apologies and excuses, while a young man finally stumbled in position next to her, wheezing as if he'd just run a mile, offering no words or greeting as he sweated into his flowery robes.

"Silence!" the Commander roared. The armor wearer squeaked in fear, and stood sharply to attention.

"And to think my own daughter would be late on the day of her certification test. For shame! And take that helmet off!" he continued in his rage. However, it was quite obvious by the way that his voice shook that he was only being this strict to her because he was required to as a commanding officer, and that he'd be babbling many (unneeded) apologies to her later.

"G-gotcha, daddy!" She promptly raised her hands to the hooked helmet and popped it off, revealing her face as the glowing eyes disappeared from within the helmet. As she removed it, long brown hair spilled out from inside, with two bright red clips adorning her bangs. She smiled sweetly at her father, who fidgeted uncomfortably, adding even more layers of guilt over being forced to speak so harshly to her.

"Well then, now that everyone's accounted for, let's start again!" Kenjirou said aggressively, trying to hide his discomfort. "Identify yourselves! Name! Class! Degree!"

Hiyori rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh, playing with her blue coat in obvious boredom. "HiyoriAsahinaBlackMageAdept," she repeated in a hurried tone, making sure everyone knew how frustrated she was.

Hibiya stood a little stiffer, trying to give the illusion of confidence now that he knew what he was supposed to say. "Hibiya Amamiya! White Mage! Initiate!" he shouted crisply.

The red scarved girl giggled slightly at the two younger children. "Oh dear, how cute! I promise to take good care of you, Hibiya and Hiyori!" Kenjirou cleared his throat loudly, and she scrambled back to attention as Hiyori pretended not to hear her and Hibiya blushed wildly and stared in awe at the kind older girl.

"Right! Ayano Tateyama! Dark Knight! Initiate!" she recited in a tone replete with bravado. She reached behind her and fingered the hilt of the huge two handed sword strapped to her back, her smile growing even wider as if convincing herself that she really was a Dark Knight.

Meanwhile, the young man who had followed Ayano to the dungeon finally caught his breath, and wiped the sweat from his brow. It was obvious that he had been forced to run after his partner, and that he didn't have much in the way of stamina either. He wore a circular black hat on his head and long orange robes which were adorned with flowery and weaving designs at the bottom and tied together with a large red bow at the waist. He sharply planted the long rod he carried with him in the ground and looked Kenjirou seriously in the eyes as he spoke.

"Shintaro Kisaragi. Mystic. Initiate," he droned in a monotone, not as aggressively as Hiyori, but similarly bored.

As they introduced themselves and Kenjirou nodded and wrote on a clipboard, Hibiya couldn't help but wonder what was going on. He had never heard of the kinds of mages that the two strangers were. His confusion must have been apparent on his face, because Hiyori tsked at him and leaned over to him.

"Dark Knights are physical mages. They use swords. Their type of magic is Darkness, and allows them to heavily wound many enemies at the same time for the price of their own health," she whispered into his ear. Upon hearing this, Hibiya stared even more in awe at the cheerful red scarved girl. He couldn't imagine someone that kind, sweet, and perhaps even naïve causing that kind of destruction, let alone sacrificing their own well-being in order to cause it.

"Mystics, on the other hand, are not as physical. That rod he has is only for emergencies," Hiyori continued. "Their craft lies in causing harmful status effects that hinder enemies, such as blinding them or paralyzing them, up to even playing with how brave they are or if they believe in any gods or things like that." The young man, Shintaro, however, seemed better matched with his role in Hibiya's opinion. His cold eyes suggested quite a bit of intelligence, and a brand of cynicism that wouldn't mind toying with an enemy until they were as lost as a rat in a maze.

"Now, pay attention!" Kenjirou ordered. "The dungeon you will be entering is called Panzermast. It has five floors! You will start on floor one, Daze! It goes deep underground, so watch your step, I don't want to have to report any test failures due to you cracking your skulls open against the stairs." While he was speaking, he gestured behind him to a small pit in the ground. It was like an upside down tower, with stairs spiraling down the stone walls into the earth, leading down to an archway that betrayed nothing but a pitch dark path.

"Your goal is simple. Get to the bottom, recover the important object that's there, and come back up here with it. Those who come back alive with the object will be promoted to Adepts. You four will be working together for this task, so try not to kill each other. Any questions?"

Hibiya quickly raised his hand, sensing a contradiction in Kenjirou's last sentence. "B-but, Magus Kenjirou, you said those who come back will be promoted to… um… 'Adept', but Hiyori said she already is an Adept, so why does she-"

Kenjirou quickly cut him off with another death glare. "Ask her yourself," he ordered coldly. This time, the steel in his voice was all too real. Hibiya stepped back a little, and looked to Hiyori for a reaction, but her face didn't change in expression at all.

"Well, if there are no more questions…?" Kenjirou cast a cursory gaze over the quartet, then nodded to himself then stepped aside. "Alright then. Welcome to Panzermast. Good luck."

Ayano could hardly contain her excitement despite the mortal danger waiting for them. "Come on, Shintaro, let's go do something heroic!" she said gleefully, her eyes gleaming with eagerness as she took the Mystic by the hand and half led, half dragged him down the stairs, holding on tight to her beaked helmet with her other hand.

"Wait, wait, wait, OW, Ayano you idiot, stop, I'm going to fall, wait!" Shintaro protested loudly as he tried his best not to fall to an early death down the stairs as Kenjirou had warned, barely able to keep his hat on his head. Their voices became more and more distant as they continued to descend the tower.

Kenjirou looked down the pit, tutting at his daughter's unprofessionalism, then walked back away from the entrance, stopping in front of Hiyori. He paused for a moment, staring into her eyes, as if searching for her thoughts behind her pink irises. Meanwhile, Hiyori stared on into the distance as if he wasn't even there.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again after a moment. Shaking his head, he just kept on walking, a look of resignation painting his face. "Try not to end up like the last one," he muttered as he passed by Hibiya, setting off down the road by which the two had arrived before the White Mage could ask him what he meant. Just as quickly, Hiyori set off down the stairs of Panzermast, not giving a moment's pause to wait for her partner. Hibiya, as confused as ever, chased after the Black Mage.

"H-hey, what did that mean? Who's the last one? And why are you here if you're an… er… 'Adept'? What's going on?" Hibiya asked rapidly as soon as he had caught up with the girl, lifting up his robes to watch his step on the stairs and stepping gingerly behind her. Hiyori continued down the stairs at a brisk pace as if they were the stairs to her home.

"Idiot," Hiyori replied. "Units of the Academy start as Neophytes. Once they're done with their studies and are ready for field work and their certification tests, they become Initiates, like you. Once they've passed their test, they become Adepts."

Hibiya began putting two and two together, but found that four raised even more questions. "But if you're an Adept, that means you've already passed your certification test," he stated slowly, as if waiting for Hiyori to correct him. When she didn't, he felt as if he'd found himself back at the beginning. "Then… why are you taking it again?"

Unseen to the White Mage, Hiyori clenched her small fists, as if he'd just struck a nerve. She turned sharply on her partner, staring up defiantly into his eyes. "I had a partner before you. She was a White Mage too. We both came into Panzermast. Only I came out. The Academy decided that I wouldn't be permitted to work without a partner, so they stuck me with you because no other Adepts were fool enough to work with me. Now I'm stuck coming in here again because you need to pass your test and you can't come in without a partner. Any more questions?" she spat coarsely, extra venom dripping from the last part.

Normally, Hibiya would be intimidated and cowed by Hiyori's harsh words, but he sensed a sort of sadness, or regret, under her hostility. Whoever her previous partner was, Hiyori was guilty over losing her. Hibiya wanted to ask Hiyori who her partner was, and what happened to her, but she'd already started back down the stairs without waiting for an answer, her footfalls a little heavier than before. And so, as always, Hibiya followed.

"Took you long enough," Shintaro remarked when the two had reached the bottom. He was leaning against the arched pathway that led into Panzermast, seemingly not fazed at all that unknown enemies and darkness lied behind him.

"Oh hush, they have tiny little legs, of course it'll take them longer," Ayano chastised, swatting him lightly on the shoulder. The Mystic only scowled in response. She then turned around and kneeled in front of the two younger Mages, taking their hands in her own and giving them a huge, kind smile, causing Hibiya to blush yet again. "Anyway, hello you two! Oh, you're so adorable, I can't believe they let such young children graduate! You must be awfully powerful kiddos to be here right now, I can't wait to see you in action! You must be scared though, so don't wor-!"

"If you can't wait to see how powerful we are, I could give a demonstration of my magic on your face, if you'd like," Hiyori interrupted without an ounce of emotion in her voice. Ayano froze midsentence, her face stuck in a huge grin, unsure of how to respond to such sudden hostility, while Hibiya chewed on his lip, afraid that this would happen. Meanwhile, Shintaro coughed behind her, trying to break the awkward tension that had popped up in the space of half a second. Hiyori took Ayano's hand and delicately extracted her own hand from it, letting the Dark Knight's hand drop uselessly once it was free.

"Or, if you would prefer, you could stop patronizing us and wait until we get into this stupid dungeon and we encounter some monsters, so that we can be one step closer to getting this trivial exercise over with. How does that sound?" she continued, gesturing towards the path into the first floor.

"R-right! Let's do that, then, that's a great plan, let's get started!" Ayano babbled, her face pale from the aggressive situation. She pushed herself to her feet and turned around to face the entrance of Panzermast, before lifting her arms up and putting her helmet back on her head, the glowing eyes once more reappearing in the front. "I'll lead the way, then!" she chirped, her voice echoing inside the metal, and she skipped merrily into the dungeon, disappearing quickly in the darkness.

Hiyori stepped forward to follow her, but was quickly blocked by a rod in the way of the door.

"Are you really going to keep up that attitude, kid?" Shintaro asked, peering down cynically at the Black Mage. "Like it or not, we're a team, so try to at least act civil, and maybe we can all get out of this ali-"

"Go fuck yourself," Hiyori replied in a monotone before he could even finish his sentence, stepping over the rod and continuing into the darkness, her hands in her long coat's pockets.

Hibiya was next, stepping over the now frozen in indignant shock Shintaro's rod as well, whispering "Sorry! I'm really sorry, she didn't mean it, she's good inside, I promise!" to the older male as he quickly chased after his partner.

Finally, Shintaro sighed to himself, coming to terms with the fact that this was going to be a rather annoying ordeal with Hiyori around. He followed the three into the arched pathway, disappearing into the darkness, and leaving the upside down tower that led into Panzermast empty.


	3. Panzermast Floor One: Daze

_**Author's Note**_

_Woohoo fight scenes!_

* * *

Hiyori wrinkled her nose in the blood red light, staring up at its source in mild distaste. "So you're telling me… that your scarf…"

"GLOWS?" Hibiya finished his partner's sentence for her, albeit exponentially more enthusiastically, ogling Ayano's glowing red scarf as if he'd found the Holy Grail.

The Dark Knight chuckled awkwardly, twiddling the luminescent object in question between her fingers. The red scarf wrapped tightly around the neck of her armor was, indeed, glowing brightly, illuminating the otherwise pitch dark cave with crimson light.

"Yep! It glows!" she chirped as they continued to walk through the tight passageway. "Pretty cool, huh? I dunno why it glows though." She put a finger to her helmet as if in deep thought, the glowing eyes beneath the visor squinting as she tried to concentrate. "Hey, Shintaro, why does my scarf glow?" she finally asked her partner, calling to the Mystic at the back of their formation.

The young man scowled, although that seemed to be his neutral reaction to any and all happenings. "You dropped it in the mud by accident, then you tried to wash the mud off of it in a huge puddle of bleach you find lying around in the forest, but it was actually a huge puddle of nuclear waste," he explained, rolling his eyes.

As soon as Shintaro said that, Hiyori's pink eyes widened in shock and Hibiya audibly gasped, clutching his staff as he struggled to think of all the radiation that must have been bombarding his body ever since they'd entered this dungeon with her, and Ayano made an "Ohhhhhh!" sound, as if this was news to her as well.

"Nuclear waste? T-T-That's a little-!" he began stammering out.

"Dangerous?" Ayano finished, looking back at the two younger Mages and then shrugging. "Well, I'm a Dark Knight! Everything I do is dangerous," she admitted, looking back down the path they were walking. That sentence struck Hibiya in a moment of clarity.

_Everything I do… Is dangerous… _he thought to himself, considering what it must be like to live life as a Mage that fights by giving up their own wellbeing. _Could that be the most selfless magic of all? Sacrificing yourself for the good of others… _He gave a sidelong glance to Hiyori, who continued walking at his side, albeit quite a length further away from Ayano than before, still eyeing her irradiated scarf with great distrust. _Hiyori would never use magic like that selflessly. To increase her powers by any means necessary, then, perhaps…? _He thought back to the way Hiyori had made the summoner beg for his life and teach Hiyori his powers, before she turned them on him to murder him seconds later.

_Perhaps. No, probably. But she'd never put herself in harm's way for the sake of others. _The Black Mage in question glanced over at Hibiya as he was stuck in his reflections while still staring at her, giving him a dirty look and sticking her tongue out at him in disgust, causing him to quickly turn away and look back down the path they were walking. For a split second, he began questioning whether he truly did want to be down here with her after all, before shaking his head and banishing the doubtful thoughts into the trash. _Well, that's alright, I suppose. I don't mind taking on that role for the both of us. I am a White Mage, after all._

"Oh, oh, we're here!" Ayano's excited voice snapped Hibiya out of his introspection, and he looked up to see that there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel. Stepping out with the others, he saw that the dungeon opened up into a wide, empty expanse of green grass, with a blue sky above them, as if they hadn't just spent the last twenty minutes walking deep underground. The tunnel that they had just walked out of was set into a gigantic cliff, one that spanned upwards for miles. Before them stood a small stone arch, identical to the one that led into Panzermast at the bottom of the upside down tower.

On this arch, was inscribed three words. _Floor One: Daze._

Immediately, Hibiya pointed up at the clear blue sky with an intense look of concern on his face. "…How." was all he could say. He looked to Hiyori, but she only shrugged. Ayano shrugged as well, her scarf no longer glowing now that they were in broad daylight. Finally, Shintaro rubbed his chin, as if considering how this sky showing up so deep underground could be a possibility, but then he shrugged as well.

"Magic," was his only answer. Everyone but Hibiya nodded sagely at this piece of information, while Hibiya just leaned on his staff and sighed. This was going to be a very long dungeon.

Hiyori peered out from under her large hat, shielding her eyes against the artificial sun. "There," she said, pointing off in the distance. "I'd bet you anything that's our destination." Indeed, partially obscured by the roll of the hill was the flat roof of a building, sticking about a foot out of the ground, the rest of the building buried underneath the rustling grass. A single door stuck out of the roof, leading down into the building.

"Haven't you been here before, Adept?" Shintaro asked indifferently, not bothering to look at Hiyori while he asked. "You of all people should know exactly where we're going."

"Haven't you researched anything about Panzermast before coming here, idiot Initiate?" Hiyori retorted, just as indifferent, yet with a thin veneer of poison on her words. "The layout of this dungeon changes based on who enters it, to give a challenge based on whatever combination of Mages comes in here. This wide expanse was not here last time. Now let's go," she commanded, already setting off towards the buried rooftop. Hibiya was close behind, and Ayano took a few steps forward, giggling at the sour faced Mystic.

"It's true, you know," she admitted. "You didn't do your homework before coming here! Off we go, Shintaro!" With that, she dashed off after the pair, and Shintaro followed, grumbling about rude, uppity little girls.

They continued on for a short while through the sea of green, walking in a square formation. Hibiya looked about nervously, concerned about when this "challenge" Hiyori mentioned would show up, until Hiyori punched him not too lightly on the shoulder.

"Cut it out. You're going to attract monsters if you keep displaying that kind of fear, you know," she lectured. She looked off into the distance, as if playing back a memory in her head. "Besides," she continued, her voice softening. "Just do your job and watch my back, and I'll be sure to keep you safe too."

Rubbing his shoulder, the White Mage nodded, though inside he was quite shocked that Hiyori would ever act the least bit considerate to anyone, a thought that he decided would be wise not to express.

"Ah!" Ayano suddenly exclaimed, and the group turned its attention to her. Perched on her helmet was a strange sort of batlike creature, with a green body and large tan wings. What was most shocking about it was that its body seemed to largely be made up of a gigantic eyeball, which was darting from each member of the party to the next rapidly.

Ayano reached up to bat at whatever had decided to take a rest on her armor, but Shintaro quickly grabbed her arm. "Don't. Move," he ordered sternly. Ayano's body stiffened inside of her armor; when Shintaro spoke like this, she knew things were serious.

"You have an Ahriman perched on your helmet," he explained. "Weak in terms of constitution, but they're quick and nimble, and they can fly. They have some kind of energy beam attack that comes from their eye, so we're going to need to-"

As if to illustrate his point, the Ahriman suddenly started spasming violently on top of Ayano's head, and turned its body up towards the sky. The eye in the middle of its body started glowing with some strange white light, and a beam of energy shot out, rocketing up in the sky like a flare. With that, the winged creature shot up off of Ayano's helm and flew away.

"…and the most dangerous thing about Ahrimans is that they always come in huge packs," Shintaro stated with a defeated expression. Sure enough, the sound of dozens and dozens of wings filled the air, and the ground itself seemed to vibrate with fury of a beast hunting its prey. Without a word, Ayano unstrapped her sword from her back, holding it tightly with both hands. Shintaro held his rod at the ready as well, and Hibiya scratched his back with his staff, sighing.

"Elemental weaknesses?" Hiyori asked loudly, raising her hands, ready to cast whatever maelstrom would be necessary to get them out of this mess.

"Well, Ice, but-"

"Hibiya, stick close to me and spam Protect. Let's go commit genocide, partner." Hiyori ordered, interrupting Shintaro and laughing darkly, her ribbonlike hair already fraying slightly with the magic in her body preparing itself to be expelled.

At that moment, their foes descended, like spiders from their webs. It was clear that they were eager to feast on fresh Mage meat, and here was a feast just waiting to be harvested. Already, some of their bodies began to spasm, signaling the beginning of their attack.

Hiyori dusted her hands off on her blue jacket, and nodded back at Hibiya, who nodded back. Despite any mishaps or bad blood between the two, they did make an excellent combat team. The two dashed off up the hill and onto higher ground. Half of the Ahrimans followed them up, eye beams already striking the ground beneath the childrens' feet.

Meanwhile, Shintaro and Ayano stood back to back on low ground, both their weapons raised, as the other half of the herd circled around them.

"Keep them debilitated, Shintaro. Use your best judgement, I know how many nasty spells you have up your sleeves," Ayano advised. Although she seemed airheaded most of the time, the truth was that Ayano was the strategy master on their team. Shintaro was only more intelligent in raw knowledge, and perhaps common sense.

"Understood," Shintaro confirmed. He turned his head to look her seriously in the eye, or the glowing circles in her visor that served as her eyes. "Keep this clean. Don't tear yourself up unless you absolutely have to."

Ayano looked down solemnly at the ground but did not reply. "Let's go," she said quietly after a while, and charged forward with her sword.

* * *

"KEEP UP WITH THEM!" Hiyori bellowed over her shoulder at Hibiya, both her hands raised over her head. She quickly turned her head back to the threesome of Ahrimans diving down at her. "BLIZZAGA!"

Static popped and crackled along Hiyori's arms as the Ahrimans neared the ground on their descent, and a giant glacier rumbled out of the ground towards the Ahrimans, soaring up to impale them. However, they were too quick, and they pulled back up with a few beats of their powerful wings, and they escaped the sharp cold of Hiyori's ice spell. They spasmed too, and beams of light came from the three of them, shooting towards the Black Mage at bullet speed.

Luckily, Hibiya made sure to pay close attention to his partner at all times and with a loud "Protect!" the beams fizzled out against a scaled wall of solid light that appeared before Hiyori. The three foes flew back up to their pack of twenty something companions, circling above them. If they all decided to attack at once, it would be over.

"BLIZZAGA!" she called again in distress, but the spell had just as much effect; when the blizzard rose up towards the pack, they just retreated once more, and went back to circling, not a single one touched.

The White Mage came up quickly to Hiyori's side, paying close attention to the herd for more spasming. "Hiyori, they're too fast for Blizzard spells, they'll just fly away! We need to-"

"SHUT UP!" Hiyori shrieked, her face contorted in stress. She took her hat off and tossed it away down the hill and fell to her knees, clutching her head as she began trembling violently. Static crackled across her body once more, but this time with even more fervor. Hibiya could see her eyes rolling around in her head as she screamed in pain, magic overloading her body, and he suddenly realized what she was trying to do.

"HIYORI, NO-!" he jumped forward at his trembling partner, trying to tackle her in order to break her concentration and cancel the extremely dangerous spell, but at that moment the pack of Ahrimans dove down towards the Black Mage, sensing weakness, and he was knocked away by the great wind of their flapping wings.

Finally, just before the pack struck her down, she spread her arms out, her head thrown backwards and her eyes glowing with the pink color of her irises. "BLIZZAJA!" she roared, her voice cracking in pain as she invoked the most powerful ice spell known to Mages.

A sound comparable to a sword being unsheathed sounded through the air, and a forest of ice sprouted around the vulnerable Black Mage. Pillars, spikes, hills, and other formations made of ice rose up and laid waste to the Ahrimans, as some crashed into the ice and crumpled uselessly to the ground, and others were split down the middle when a spike came up from underneath them, spilling intestines and vital organs, the eye falling gruesomely out of its socket. More and more ice was generated around Hiyori as her pained screaming filled the ice wasteland of her own creation, and more and more of the ice was stained with Ahriman blood, soaking into the structures and running down the sides.

Finally, the screaming stopped, and so did the ice creation. A moment of deathly silence rang out for a short second, then the ice formations began to retreat back into the ground, soaking the soil red as they disappeared beneath the surface, leaving no holes or craters behind. There in the middle of the crimson battleground knelt Hiyori, as a few more giant, painful spasms wracked her little body. As soon as her eyes stopped glowing and returned to their normal dull pink, she collapsed to her side and stopped moving.

Hibiya chastised himself and Hiyori under his breath as he ran up the hill towards his partner, and dragged her quickly into his lap.

"L…L-let go of me… you s-s-son of a…" Hiyori tried to push Hibiya away, but instead clung to his robes, too weak and freezing cold to exert that kind of energy on him. Already, her teeth were chattering from the extreme temperatures that had inhabited her body throughout the course of Blizzaja.

"Hush up and let me heal you," He muttered, shaking his head. "Remember how bad of an idea it is for you to use –ja spells? They're too much for you, your body is too small to house that much magic. Man, who knows how much damage you did to your internal organs?" He tutted at the Black Mage, who just groaned in response. "Alright, let's see. Curaga." Hibiya's hands started to glow with soft white light, and he held them up over Hiyori's body, stitching together whatever internal damage she had. Hiyori shifted about in discomfort for a while due to her insides being forced back into place, but then she was still, and breathing normally once more.

"Well… you know it's my job… to fuck myself up… for your sake," she rasped, laughing quietly at her own comment, her eyes struggling to stay open.

_My sake? _Hibiya thought to herself. Hiyori never, ever spoke this way. This was way past the considerate words she had for him earlier. _What is she-?_

"But as long as… you're there… to patch me up every time," Hiyori continued weakly. "Then I really don't mind… if that's what keeps you safe, Shiro…" With that, Hiyori finally lost consciousness, her exhaustion getting the best of her.

Hibiya froze as if he'd received a Blizzaja of his own to the face. _Shiro?_

_Who's Shiro?_

* * *

"SO DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A GOOD PLAN? DID YOU HEAR IT ALL?" Ayano screamed at Shintaro over the loud flapping of their half of the Ahriman herd, swatting one away with her sword.

"Yeah, I think so!" Shintaro replied, twirling his rod around and deftly pointing it at an Ahriman that was spasming just a little too much for his taste. "Umbra!" he called out, and a ghostly white circle appeared behind the creature, ensnaring it in a cloud of darkness. The now blinded monster flapped quickly in panic, bumping into other nearby Ahriman and interrupting their eye beams. "It's better than nothing anyway, we can't do anything on the ground against these things," he continued.

"OKAY LET'S DO THIS!" Ayano dashed up to her partner's side and leapt quickly in the air, while Shintaro swung his rod underneath the Dark Knight, catching her on the end.

"See you on the other side, partner!" Ayano chirped, as she gave him a quick salute and put all her weight on the rod, carefully gripping her sword with both hands. Shintaro merely nodded, and with a grunt he swung the rod with all his strength, sending Ayano flying into the airspace occupied by the herd.

At that point, the Dark Knight began to spin rapidly in the air, holding on tightly to her sword so that she became a whirling tornado of death. She flew straight into an unwitting Ahriman, tearing it open, and into another one, and another one, ripping apart each monster she came into contact with.

As soon as her flight led her to the edge of the herd, Shintaro, who had been keeping careful watch, pointed at the Ahriman closest to her with his rod. "Break Seal!" he commanded, and a similar ghostly circle appeared behind the Ahriman, this one pale grey. When the circle ensnared the monster, its skin began to turn to stone, and with a few last terrified flaps of its wings, the Ahriman quickly was petrified.

This was Ayano's chance; spotting the Ahriman statue in midair about to succumb to gravity, she quickly turned herself around in midair and placed her feet on it, pushing hard against it and launching herself once more in the correct direction, eviscerating even more of the batlike creatures on her way back to the ground.

Finally, she approached the ground near Shintaro, a struck the soil with her shoulder, rolling to a stop, her sword skidding a short distance away. Dripping with Ahriman blood, she pulled her helmet off quickly, her long brown hair now sticky with sweat. "How'd I do?" she asked happily, as if she'd done nothing more than paint a picture.

Shielding his eyes against the artificial sun, Shintaro peered up into the sky. "Ah," he said. "You missed one. "

"Awww, poo!" Ayano complained, puffing out her cheeks. "I'd aimed myself so well and everything! Well, at least I didn't have to use Darkness this time."

Shintaro simply chuckled and with his rod pointed up sharply at the last remaining Ahriman, which was floating a short distance away and seemingly panicking, realizing that it was the only survivor against these bloodthirsty Mages.

"Break Seal." A few seconds later, the shattering of a stone statue against the ground rang out across the vast grassland, and all was silent.

* * *

"HIYORINNNNNNNNNN! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ayano sobbed loudly, fat tears mixing with the blood on her coal black armor.

Hibiya could only stand a little further away in concern as he carried his unconscious partner in his arms. _Hiyorin? Really? _"R-relax, Miss Ayano… she's not dead, she's just asleep. She got… a little ambitious. But we're both okay."

"O-O-Oh thank goodnessssss!" the Dark Knight wailed as she sniffed loudly, and then proceeded to lean on Shintaro's shoulder and sob some more, who could only offer lame pats on the back in consolation as she stained his (no doubt expensive) robes with her tears.

The four had met up at the buried rooftop, next to the door that led down into the building. As Hiyori could not continue in this condition, they agreed to camp for the night and continue down Panzermast tomorrow.

As Hibiya carefully laid Hiyori down on the concrete using her huge hat for a pillow and Ayano built a campfire while trying not to burst back into tears, Shintaro stared suspiciously at the door. It was made of metal, and it had a chrome plated, round doorknob. He reached forward cautiously, as if afraid that the doorknob would bite him, and turned the cold metal and opened the door.

"Yep," the Mystic muttered. "This is definitely where we need to go, at least."

There, framing the stairwell down into the building, was yet another stone archway, with yet another three words inscribed into it.

_Floor 2: Toumei._


	4. Panzermast Floor Two: Toumei

"Psst. Hiyorin. Wakey wakey." Hiyori opened her eyes slowly, groaning with exhaustion and waking at the sound of someone's voice. A shadowed figure with glowing eyes knelt on top of her, gently shaking her shoulders to wake her, a red scarf hanging down over her face.

This certainly woke her up. "W-WAHHH!" she wailed, her eyes shooting open in panic at the strange monster that wanted her to be awake before it ate her. She would certainly not give it that chance. She thrust her hands out in front of her towards the monster. "FIRAG-"

"Quiescence," came a bored voice from behind her. Suddenly, Hiyori found herself voiceless; she tried to speak, but nothing came out. She clutched at her throat as if she was suffocating, but to no avail.

"WAIT, wait, Hiyorin it's me!" Ayano rolled off of Hiyori and quickly pulled her helmet off of her, her worried face replacing the cold metal exterior. "I-I, I just wanted to wake you up, cause we should really get going!"

Hiyori shot up to her feet, ready to scold the Dark Knight on the dangers of surprising a very powerful mage in her sleep, but she remained completely mute, her mouth moving angrily, almost comically with nothing coming out of it.

"Don't bother," Shintaro said, leaning against the door to the next floor. "I silenced you. That way you won't do anything stupid. Not so big now, huh punk?" He smirked and shook his head, satisfied that he'd outsmarted the Black Mage, and without another word he descended down the staircase to Toumei.

Hiyori turned on Hibiya, angrily mouthing words at him and pointing at the disappeared Mystic. _UNSILENCE ME SO I CAN KICK HIS ASS! _she seemed to be saying.

"I… I think it'd be best if you calmed down first," he whimpered slowly, growing more and more concerned about her temper when her face turned red with angry mouthing.

"Come on kiddos, we've got a dungeon to conquer!" Ayano chirped happily, skipping past the two and after her partner, down the dark staircase. Her armor clinked loudly with each step.

"Alright, Hiyori… let's go…" Hibiya muttered nervously, glad that Hiyori couldn't cast any spells at the moment. She continued to fume, no doubt plotting each of their brutal deaths when she got her voice back. Together, the two passed through the stone arch and descended the stairs.

The stairway was pitch dark at first, and the two carefully watched their step, barely illuminated by the further down Ayano's scarf. The floor was tiled with some sort of white ceramic speckled with flecks of different colors of paint. As they continued down, however, Hibiya noticed something strange: there was a window letting in natural sunlight. He opened his mouth to question it, or even protest this attack on logic, but he simply shook his head and looked out the window. _Magic. Of course, _he thought to himself.

Outside the building they were in, a setting sun painted the dismal ruins of a city in bright orange, even though it was still morning back up in Daze. Scattered around the landscape like jagged anthills were crumbling buildings, drooping under the weight of time and erosion. It was obvious that nobody had inhabited this city in many, many centuries. A sort of beautiful silence hung in the air, a silent harp being played by the millions and millions of memories that must have been made in this city, reaching up with fingers of overgrown buildings to pluck the soundless strings.

Hibiya felt a growing feeling of dread, as if they had overstepped their boundaries by stepping in this city that belonged to the dead. The White Mage turned to Hiyori, who was leaning against the railing of the staircase, arms crossed and staring off into the depths of the stairwell, waiting for her partner. Her blue robes were painted orange as well by the beam of ochre light, specks of dust dancing around her in the musty air. She turned to look at Hibiya, realizing that he was staring at her. Still unable to speak, she widened her pink eyes at him and shrugged slightly, signaling _What is it? _

He wanted to say many things to her. He wanted to scold her for so casually risking herself in battle. He wanted to profess how happy he was that they were partners despite all the difficulties. He had a strange urge to tell her how hauntingly pretty she looked highlighted in the light of a dead world. Yet there was one word that she had said that overpowered all these thoughts.

Hibiya looked the Black Mage dead in the eye and pointed downwards. "Is… this where Shiro died? That was your old partner's name, yes?"

There was a long silence as Hibiya maintained eye contact with Hiyori, trying his best not to fidget uncomfortably. Any emotion in the Black Mage's eyes emptied out upon hearing that name. Her face seemed to become more sunken in, much older than such a small girl should ever appear. Hibiya noticed that the light of the city no longer gave her beauty, and instead gave her the appearance of a corpse at a funeral. Finally, she closed her eyes and let out a small sigh. Without answering the question, she turned around and continued down the stairs.

Hibiya was at a loss. Staring at his partner's retreating back as she left the light of the window, he could only wonder who Shiro was, and how she had met her end. She must have been important for even the sound of her name to bring Hiyori sorrow. However, he didn't give himself much time for reflection, as he didn't want to put too much distance between him and his partner. And so as always, Hibiya followed her.

The bottom of the stairwell led to a door identical to the one on the buried roof in Daze. The four mages stepped out into some sort of lobby, filled with small lockers. To their left was a set of glass double doors that led outside. Silence reigned here as well.

It was Shintaro's voice that broke the stillness. "This building is called a 'High School'", he stated, running a finger down one of the shoe lockers to inspect the layer of dust. "Children ages 15-18 would come here every day for mandatory learning. All children would come, not just mages." He wiped the dust off of his hands onto his orange robes, squinting and looking back at the group. "I'd hazard a guess that mages did not even exist yet back then. As you can tell by the state of this city, such things took place long, long ago. Tread carefully, we're in a world that we cannot possible hope to understand."

Ayano breathed out in awe, walking forth and taking in the sight of such an ancient structure. "So… in another time, we would go to a building like this every day? I wonder what they learned if there were no mages… Hey Shintaro, what about Hibiya and Hiyori, what would they do?"

The pair wandered through the shoe lockers as the Mystic started to explain. "Well, since they're so young, they'd most likely attend a 'Middle School' instead, and…" Their voices trailed off as they walked away. Meanwhile, Hibiya was left with a still silenced Hiyori, who was lost deep in thought.

"Well…" he started, earning no response from the pensive Black Mage. "Let's go look for the stone arch to Floor Three, then, right?" Shaking herself out of reverie, Hiyori looked up with newfound determination, and nodded sharply, setting off ahead of him. The two climbed the short set of steps into the high school proper.

Ahead of them stretched a seemingly infinite hallway. On either side of the hall was door after door, each one leading into a medium sized square room. Most of them were filled with small tables and chairs; some of them contained art supplies, or withered musical instruments, or sometimes nothing at all. The two peered into each door's window, searching for anything of interest. For the most part, all they could find was empty space and relics of a world passed away.

Suddenly, Hiyori stopped short while Hibiya wandered a short distance away. A blueish glow had caught her eye from within one of the classrooms. Standing at the window, looking out upon the desiccated city, was a short haired girl, wearing a White Mage's uniform similar to Hibiya's. Her staff was made of sleek black wood from a tree struck by thunder, the top curving into the rough shape of a heart. A soft blue light seemed to float around her.

Hiyori felt her breath stop. _This can't be. It can't, you've got to be kidding me-_ She stepped forward in desperation, stepping on a loose tile which made a creaking sound.

At the sound, the girl in the room suddenly jumped, and turned around, frightened. Her face quickly melted into a sweet smile upon seeing who was at the window, and she waved happily at the Black Mage. "Onee-chan!" she called out to Hiyori in a bright voice.

Hiyori clasped her hands to her mouth upon hearing that name. _It's her, it's her, it's- _Eyes tearing up quickly, she reached forward and slammed the door open.

The blue light emanating from within the room stopped abruptly. She would have screamed in terror if she wasn't still silenced.

Further ahead, Hibiya suddenly heard the sharp footfalls of someone running. He turned to see Hiyori sprinting towards him, mouthing something that looked suspiciously like _RUN!_

Before he had time to ask questions, she took his hand and dragged him along with her, and the world seemed to explode with a crumbling sound. Hibiya looked over his shoulder to see what had just crashed through the wall further down the hall, and the sight of the creature chilled his blood.

It was a nearly seven foot tall, emanciated creature, covered in rotting flesh and fur, except for the places where its yellowed bones were visible. Its head was that of a stag, complete with vicious antlers. However, when it roared in anger, Hibiya could see that its teeth were definitely those of a predator, not prey. It dashed after them on two legs, intestines flaking out of its abdominal cavity every few steps, drooling in a beastly way. Hibiya screamed in panic, and ran quicker to stay in step with Hiyori.

Turning the corner, they reached the opposite hallway, where Ayano and Shintaro were still talking. Looking up, the two saw their allies being chased by the hellish creature.

"WHOA, what is thaaaaat?" Ayano asked, half in awe, as she unsheathed her sword, waiting for Hibiya and Hiyori to pass them before she engaged it.

"It's a Wendigo, shapeshifter, always really hungry, super dangerous, fall back, FALL BACK!" Shintaro didn't give her the chance to try her luck against the creature, and pulled her by the collar of her armor, rushing to the end of the hallway to give the group more space. Meanwhile, the Wendigo keened in a high pitched bellow, excited to see that even more prey had stumbled into its domain.

Sure enough, the White and Black Mages caught up to the older mages at the back of the hallway. Shintaro pointed his rod at the beast, unwavering under its horrifying appearance. "Hesitation!" he commanded, and a red circle wrapped itself around the Wendigo, paralyzing it in its steps. Or, at least, it should have, as with a powerful sweep of its arm the monster swept the circle away, not slowing down in the slightest.

Shintaro blanched at the sight. His spell was ineffective. "U-uh…" he stammered, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, Hiyori grabbed Hibiya by the collar and shook him back and forth, screaming at him urgently and just as silently. Between violent shakes, Hibiya tried to make out what she was trying to tell him. "Ah, ah, wait Hiyori, wait I don't get it, I- OH, THAT'S RIGHT!" he exclaimed as he finally came to his senses. At their side, Ayano raised her sword at the monster, nervous yet determined. The Wendigo was now dangerously close to the group.

"H-here goes. Darkne-!" the Dark Knight started.

"AYANO, DO NOT!" Shintaro suddenly turned on his partner, interrupting her. His eyes were wide in desperation. There was no way he could allow her to use that self-destructive magic again.

"E-ESUNA!" Hibiya stammered loudly, and a circle of blue light suddenly shot up around Hiyori, who was doing her best to bellow at the top of her lungs.

"-UNDAGA!" Her voice finally rang out mid-spell, as Hibiya's status effect cleansing spell cured her of silence. Just in time, a wall of lightning shot up in front of the monster, forming bars along the length of the hallway. The Wendigo gripped the bars of lightning with its bare hands and shook brutally, bellowing in a bloodcurdling voice at the group. Meanwhile, Hiyori held out both hands in front of her, planting her feet solidly in the ground as she leaned forward and put all her energy into withstanding the monster's assault. The creature was imprisoned on the other side of the hallway, but so were they, at the end of the hallway with nowhere to go.

As Hiyori groaned loudly with effort, her small body rippling with magic, Shintaro looked around for a solution, and Ayano gritted her teeth, disappointed in her own inaction. To their right was another staircase, this one leading upwards.

"There! We go up!" he commanded, looking at the Black Mage for confirmation. Hiyori looked over her shoulder and nodded, a drop of sweat rolling down her cheek.

"Three! Two! One! NOW!" Hiyori called out, and the group dashed up the staircase as she took the rear, abandoning the spell. Now that the caster was no longer supporting it, all it took was one last powerful charge from the Wendigo into the bars of lightning, and Thundaga disappeared.

Shintaro knew that the monster was only a few steps away from them, and that they needed to act quickly. They couldn't hide; the Wendigo's sense of smell was way too powerful for them to go anywhere. The monster had chosen its lair well; fighting such a powerful hunter in close, tight quarters like school hallways would be nearly impossible. Suddenly, he found his answer.

"TO THE ROOF! NOW!" he ordered, and they kept climbing, trying to reach the one place in the building that would give them the advantage of open space. Pure adrenaline pumped through the bodies of the young adults and the children; the raspy wheezing of the emaciated creature ripping through the stairway only a few steps away from them would be enough to make a Magus cry for their mother.

The stairwell up to the roof was identical to the one that led down from Daze, but when the quartet finally burst out into the open air, it was clear to them that the roof was no longer buried. Dead buildings stretched out for as far as the eye could see, the crescent moon allowing only a little light to shine down on the forgotten world. Beyond the railings surrounding the roof was nothing but a sheer, fatal drop to the dusty ground below.

The group quickly spread out across the wide roof, but Shintaro was too slow. A clawed hand came from the stairwell and obliterated it, and the Wendigo exploded out of the doorway, bellowing in anger and batting the Mystic aside like a ragdoll. With a boyish cry of pain, he sailed through the air and brutally smashed against the railing, crumpling on the ground and lying still.

Hiyori seethed in rage at this monster that didn't feel any pain from her spells. She jumped out in front of it and planted her feet in the ground once more. "BLIZZAG-!" she began.

Suddenly, the Wendigo stopped in mid sprint, and distorted for a split second. It disappeared, and in its place was the short haired girl once again, smiling sweetly at the older girl. The blue glow that floated around her cast a sickly pallor on Hiyori's entranced face.

The Black Mage fell silent almost instantly, unable to finish her spell, or even think clearly. Her arms fell uselessly to her side, and she stepped forward drunkenly towards the girl.

"It's you, isn't it? Hey Shiro, come on, you recognize me, right?" she rasped in desperation, tears falling from her empty eyes almost instantly. The girl nodded in response, opening her arms in an embrace to Hiyori. Losing all sense of rationality, the Black Mage ran towards the mysterious girl dressed as a White Mage, still desperate. Three steps before reaching her, the girl distorted once more, and morphed with a sickening crunch into the Wendigo, which bellowed and raised its claws above the still spellbound girl, thrusting them downwards to impale her through the head.

"PROTECT!" The creature's claws struck a wall of solidified light before they could reach the girl, and sparks glinted off the wall from the impact. Hibiya stood between the Wendigo and Hiyori, almost touching the creature if it wasn't for Protect. Hiyori watched her partner, his arms spread protectively in front of him, shivering in effort as the creature that was Shiro only ten seconds ago slashed wildly at the barrier separating them from it. She slumped to the ground, staring at it blankly. Shiro wasn't here after all.

The Wendigo continued to slice at Protect over and over again, causing Hibiya to balk under the pressure. The wall of light groaned and shredded slightly at the continued assault, and the White Mage's knees trembled. _There's… too… much… I can't-_

"D-Darkness!" Suddenly a shaky voice called out from next to the monster, and it stumbled backwards as a huge slash of purple light sliced at its abdomen. For the first time, the monster roared in pain.

A helmeted Ayano stood there in front of the pair, breathing heavily from the exertion of using her signature Dark Knight magic. Her sword still glowed with the purple light that was her sacrificial offense. Her glowing eyes squinted in exhaustion, and she looked from Hibiya and Hiyori to the Wendigo, and dashed forward before it could regain its composure.

"DARKNESS!" she repeated, this time more forcefully, and another slash of purple light flew out from her swung sword, sending a geyser of blood spraying from where it struck the beast. It stumbled backwards once more, roaring, dangerously close to the railing. Meanwhile, she quickly pulled off her helmet and bent over at the waist, her voice cracking as she screamed with pain, coughing out significant amounts of blood onto the roof.

"A-Ayano! Ayano! DON'T!" A weakened Shintaro slowly pulled himself to his feet at the sight of his battered partner, shambling forward quickly towards her, even though he had no strength to do anything. He winced and grabbed at his side, but kept from falling back down.

And yet, the Wendigo regained its balance, and dashed forward towards the Dark Knight, its wounds by no means incapacitating it. Such small sacrifices were clearly not enough to defeat this horrid beast.

And so Ayano gave a larger sacrifice.

She sprinted forward and met the Wendigo mid sprint, surprising it with her bold offensive. Brown hair and red scarf flowing behind her, she kicked the monster brutally in the abdomen, sending it back onto the railing, half of its body laying over the edge. Ayano then ran up onto its body, and cleanly planted her sword through its gaping chest. The beast roared in agony, and although it shook in pain, no blood came out of the wound; clearly such a weak attack would not kill it.

Time seemed to move at a crawl for the four. Hibiya held Hiyori by the shoulders, both of them staring at the Dark Knight's silhouette framed by the bright moon behind her, her scarf glowing faintly. Hiyori regained her senses, and her eyes widened in panic at what was about to happen. Shintaro limped as fast as he could towards his partner, screaming her name in repetition, arm outstretched although he would never reach her.

Ayano chuckled sadly, and pulled her red scarf from her neck, letting it drop to the roof. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm about to die. I really am sorry," she said quietly. She looked over her shoulder at Shintaro using all his energy to reach her even one last time, and quickly looked back at the Wendigo, trying not to cry. "Goodbye, Shintaro," she said shakily, wavering although she wanted to appear strong. She planted an armored foot on the struggling Wendigo's neck, causing it to start sliding over the railing, as it tried to reach up towards her and get her off. Soon enough, its tall body fell from the roof, and she fell with it.

"NO! NO! NO NO NO NO, AYANO COME BACK, N-"

"**_DARKNESS._**"

Suddenly Ayano's calm voice rang out loudly throughout the landscape, as if amplified by a megaphone. A giant boom echoed out behind her, and a gigantic tumor of purple light expanded from where Ayano fell in space. The Wendigo's pained, high pitched wailing followed right behind, drowned out in the explosion. It only took seconds for the purple explosion to wash over the rooftop.

"AYANO!" Shintaro screamed in agony, his voice breaking, as he stumbled through the purple light, trying to reach the place he saw her last. He was suddenly pulled back sharply by the back of his robe, and he fell down sharply onto his rear between Hiyori and Hibiya.

"Fucking idiot, do you want to die too?" Hiyori barked at him over the loud roaring of Ayano's last sacrifice, shielding her eyes with her hand against the light. She then turned to the source of the magic and raised her hands above her head. "Earth minded soul, protect us! GOLEM!" As she summoned, the trademark green orbs spiraled out of her body and up towards the sky.

Just as the most powerful wave was about to obliterate the trio, a giant made of rock appeared behind the Black Mage, shimmering in the force of the magic. A huge wall of stone erected itself before them, and Darkness slammed against it. The wall creaked and moaned, but it stood true. Around them on all sides, the three watched metric kilotonnes of magical energy pour over the roof and into the sky. Nothing that it touched would survive.

And then, it was gone. Ayano's final spell disappeared without a trace. Over the side of the roof, there was no Wendigo, and no Dark Knight. The only proof that she was ever here was her faintly glowing red scarf, dumped onto a pile on the roof. Hiyori's summon timed out as well, and the wall of stone sunk back into the ground.

Shintaro suddenly turned on Hibiya and lifted him up by the neck, wild eyed and breathing heavily. "You. You're a White Mage. BRING AYANO BACK. BRING HER BACK!" he ordered shakily, his voice intimidating yet pleading at the same time. Hibiya wheezed in response, barely able to breathe.

Hiyori bashed him in the stomach, punching him harshly two, then three times before he fell to his knees and let go of Hibiya, who fell onto his feet, panting in pain. "You stupid moron. Your beloved partner sacrifices herself to save us and this is the first thing you think to do?" she spat out in disgust.

"There's nothing to bring back, anyway. Don't you get it?" she continued. "Ayano used her soul to power that last Darkness. Didn't you see how huge it was? It consumed her very existence." She squatted down in front of the Mystic and stared coldly into his wide, shocked eyes.

"Ayano's soul has been destroyed. She might as well have never existed. She. Is. Gone." With that, she pulled herself up to her feet, and stepped down the staircase and back into the school.

Hibiya nervously looked between the two. Shintaro remained on his hands and knees, staring down at the ground, silent tears starting to fall from his eyes and wetting the roof. The occasional spasm wracked his otherwise immobile body. Meanwhile, Hiyori was already gone.

For a moment, the White Mage hesitated. And yet, after a while, as always, he followed Hiyori down into the dark, quiet building, leaving the Mystic alone in the night air.


	5. Nighttime: Parting With Death

The moon continued to shine through the windows of the school building. Nighttime seemed to stretch on forever on this floor. Outside the building, a slight wind was all that troubled the ruined city. Inside, however, things began to change.

A drop of water landed on Hibiya's face, and he was pulled from his already troubled sleep. At first, he was merely annoyed at the disturbance, and he rolled onto his side, trying to get closer to Hiyori and share body heat with her to counteract the cold dampness of his robes.

_Wait- _He suddenly realized that his robes were, indeed, damp, uncomfortably so. He jumped up to his feet, staff in hand, and his heart sunk at what he saw.

While he slept, the school had rotted in every sense of the word. Drops of water fell from the ceiling in at least half a dozen places, so that the floor was covered in a thin layer of water. The schooldesks were bent and warped, surfaces sinking in with moisture and colored greenish black with decay. Most of the ceiling tiles were missing, and split, frayed wires hung down ominously from the voids, looking down on the White Mage like nooses at the gallows.

And the worst part was, he was alone. Hiyori was nowhere to be found.

Instantly, Hibiya was terrified. The world had turned into a nightmare while he wasn't looking, and his partner was missing. Trembling, but too scared to even whimper, he raised his staff defensively, and tiptoed to the door, careful not to disturb the water too loudly. As he pushed it open, the twisted metal of the hinges grinded with a deafening sound against the rusted door, echoing throughout the corpse building. Hibiya winced and stood still for a minute, which felt like an hour, but he then pressed forward out of the classroom.

The hallway was in no better of a condition. Here too, the floor was damp, and in some places it caved into the next floor. A gloomy atmosphere penetrated the whole location, painting the carcass of this long forgotten high school with blues and greys. The White Mage spun his staff around in his hands, ready to cudgel anything that leaped out at him, although his shaking frame inspired no intimidation in the slightest. Slowly but surely, he inched forward, and back up the stairs to the roof.

He almost had a heart attack upon forcing open the roof door. In front of him was nothingness; not even the last floor was visible, and a void was all that remained. Hibiya pitched forward and almost fell in, wobbling his arms to keep from diving into the abyss that was the roof, before finally regaining his balance and clinging to the door frame for dear life. The railings were still there, and the dead city still surrounded this corpse of a school; only now the floor was absent. In addition, Shintaro and Ayano's red scarf were nowhere to be seen. Whether the mourning, frozen Mystic had been swallowed up by the void, or whether he went someplace else, Hibiya did not know. Shivering at the first possibility, he put up his white hood, closed the door behind him, and went back down the stairs, clutching his staff even tighter.

He did not expect that someone would be waiting for him to return to the last floor. Stepping off of the staircase, he turned to the right only to be greeted by a soft blue glow. There, sitting on a bench next to the stairwell and swinging her legs, was a short haired girl dressed in a White Mage's robes and cradling a blackened staff that curved into a rough heart at the end. Her skin emanated a sort of peaceful light, and although Hibiya knew in his heart that he should be scared out of his wits, he wasn't.

However, he still was confused. He attempted to ask if she was Shiro, but all he could muster was a "…..uh….", and the girl turned her head at the sound, looking at Hibiya and sizing him up. Finally, as if she recognized him, the girl gave him a small, yet tired smile. Taking her staff in her hands, she pushed herself up to her feet and walked away down the hall, gesturing towards Hibiya to follow her after a few steps. Although he wasn't in the habit of following strangers into abandoned places, he felt at ease around this mysterious girl, and so he caught up with her.

As they walked together, Hibiya tried to get a closer look of her. She appeared to be a year or two younger than him and Hiyori. Her robes were long enough to cover her feet, and they dragged along the ground as she walked. Her blue glow reflected kindly off of him, and the rotting building, softening the gloomy nightmare like a mother's love. Finally, she stopped short, and turned towards one of the classrooms, pointing solemnly. And so Hibiya looked in the window.

"Come on, come on already, I killed a man to learn how to summon just for you, Shiro, so please show up," Hiyori murmured to herself, wiping tears from her eyes using her blue sleeve. She had cleared the desks in the room and bunched them up against the walls so that she had a large empty space in the middle. She sighed to herself, and raised both hands above her head.

"My partner who I couldn't save, I'm back for you now, so please appear! Shiro!" Her body recognized the incantation as a summoning spell, and the green orbs spiraled out of her body and up through the ceiling. A few seconds of silence passed, where Hiyori seemed to become a statue, waiting for something to appear with high tension. Finally she sighed, and her confident pose crumpled a little more.

"Don't hide from me, please Shiro, I know I can summon you. I know it. I made myself powerful to bring even the dead back, so come back to me," she croaked to empty air, sniffling and raising her arms up once more.

"Please, come back, my most important one, I need…. I need to say I'm sorry… for letting you down… S-Shiro…" Her legs wobbled by the end of the incantation, and she fell to her knees as the green orbs spiraled upward once more. Silence. Tension. And still nothing. Hiyori's tiny frame shuddered on the ground, and she reached a hand up to her eyes, gritting her teeth. Although Hibiya couldn't see the Black Mage's face, he knew she was doing her best not to break out in tears.

The White Mage turned to look at the mysterious girl who had brought him here. After what he had seen, though, she was no longer so mysterious.

"You're Shiro," he stated flatly.

Shiro turned away from the door and looked down at the ground sadly, before answering with a small nod. Her blue glow seemed to shine a little dimmer.

Hibiya furrowed his brow as he tried to piece the puzzle together. "And you're here… because her summons have been working after all? She really did manage to summon you from the dead?"

The younger White Mage reached up to play with her hair, looping the ribbonlike strands around her finger. She nodded again in response, following it with a sigh that seemed to exhale all of her existence.

For some reason, Hibiya could not stop himself from getting angry at this. He pointed sharply at the door, stepping up closer to the shorter girl. "Hiyori is in there. She is waiting for you. She is calling for you. Do you know how much she misses you?"

Shiro winced at Hibiya's biting tone, but he wasn't done yet. "Don't give me that! Do you know? Because I know! I know how just a few hours ago, she gave up the will to live just from seeing your face. I know that every time she hears your name, her eyes empty as if she lost her soul when you left her. SO WHY WON'T YOU GO SEE HER?" He fumed in rage, punctuating each accusatory question with another sharp point at the door, and Shiro raised her hands up, her eyes clearly showing guilt and pain at the situation.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but the two were suddenly interrupted by a mournful, angry cry from within the classroom. Hibiya ran back to the window, quickly filled with concern for his partner. Hiyori had shot back up to her feet, clutching her head and staring at the wall angrily. With jerky movements, she raised her arms above her head one last time.

"PLEASE!" she cried, her voice cracking, a painful low growl apparent in her plea, shaking uncontrollably. "MY PARTNER! THE ONLY ONE I EVER LOVED!" She paused, unable to keep going for half a second, her sobs getting the best of her, but then she lifted her head back up in determination and screamed the last part of her spell with desperate abandon. "_MY SISTER! __**SHIRO!**_"

Hibiya whipped his head around to look at Shiro, a thousand new questions running in his head. "Wait, you're Hiyori's SISTER? But-!" Shiro, however, wasn't paying attention, as her eyes were widening in terror at what was unfolding in the room.

The green orbs spiraled from Hiyori's body once more, but this time they did not rise through the ceiling. Instead, they froze in midair and turned a pitch black color. The orbs of void fell to the floor with a sickening crash, and the pieces of shattered night scattered all across the floor. "A-Ah…" Hiyori stammered, slowly inching backwards, unsure of what she had just done.

Then, slowly, the black shards began to shake. Faster, and faster, they vibrated, until they all were sucked up to a point on the other side of the room, as if magnetized by the ground. Hiyori squeaked and shielded her face with her arm, stumbling backwards.

The shards then smoothed out across the ground, creating a black platform. Then, from the left side of the platform, a familiar looking, albeit younger, glowing blue girl appeared. Hiyori immediately reached out to the younger Shiro, somewhat unsteadily. "Shir-!" she began, but she was cut off just as quickly.

"O-Onee chan!" the young Shiro blubbered sadly, sniffling and wiping tears away from her eyes. She was dressed a plain blue dress and sandals, although her hair was the same length. From the other edge of the stage a younger Hiyori came running towards her crying sister, and the real Hiyori blanched, immobilized and entranced.

"What's wrong, Shiro, why are you crying?" the young Hiyori asked with concern in her voice, kneeling down in front of her sister and running a thumb on her cheek. "Did those village brats make fun of you again?" Shiro nodded slowly in response.

"T-they made fun of my glow," Shiro stammered, hiccupping and shaking her arm as if the blue light would dissipate, which of course it didn't. "They called me 'glowing brat' and they said all the moths would come eat me at night," she continued. With that she broke down into uncontrollable sobs, and she crashed down onto the apparition Hiyori, who wrapped her arms around her and allowed her to sob on her shoulder.

The older Hiyori suddenly scuttled into a corner, eyes wide as dinner plates in realization of what was happening. "M-my memories," she breathed. "Stop… stop please, stop…"

"Well you know what, Shiro, those village idiots are just jealous," the younger Hiyori whispered into her sister's ear, and held her by the shoulders, looking her in the eye. "You wanna know why? Because when it becomes nighttime, they have to go outside with a torch to be able to see, or they just can't go outside at all. Whereas you can light up the place at any hour, so you can see and go wherever you please. You're like a White Mage, lighting up the world for everyone else."

Shiro looked down and blushed, smiling a little at the comparison. "T-thank you Onee-chan. I love you!" she professed excitedly, leaning down and kissing Hiyori on the cheek, who smiled as well.

The real Hiyori screeched and swatted at the air, as if the memories were poisoning her. "STOP! STOP IT NOW! FIRAGA!" Sparks of magic flickered all over her body and conjoined at her hand, and the scene exploded into a hellish fire. The stage burned for a little while, while Hiyori panted like a feral dog, her outstretched arm falling to the ground. Just as quickly, however, the inferno on the stage disappeared, and a new scene appeared.

"I'm sorry, Onee-chan, I'm so so sorry!" A slightly older Shiro was sniffling and kneeling next to Hiyori, who was battered and bruised all over. The apparition of the Black Mage shook her head and smiled back.

"Nah, it's okay Shiro. You got me pretty good there. Who knew you had that good of a swing with that staff of yours? Besides, our duel was so good that both of us got to graduate. I'm proud of you, sister. Or should I say, Partner, now that we're officially working together." Hiyori reached up and patted her sister on the head, and Shiro giggled in response, her worried expression gone now.

"Thank you, Onee-chan. I love you so much, you know that?" The glowing blue White Mage leaned down and kissed Hiyori on the cheek again, and she playfully pushed Shiro away, laughing but then wincing and groaning at her wounds. Shiro gasped and jumped up, grabbing her nearby staff in panic.

"O-oh, sorry Onee-chan, I forgot! Cura!" She waved the blackened rod above the Black Mage as white light started to emanate from it.

"THUNDAGA!" The apparition of the pair was obliterated right then and there with thick, wicked bolts of white lightning, as Hiyori struggled up to her feet, leaning against the wall. She breathed heavily, her ribbonlike hair sticking to her forehead with sweat. This combined with the frenzied look in her eyes made her look rabid, as if she'd lost all control of herself.

"IS THIS SOME SICK FUCKING JOKE? LEAVE MY MEMORIES ALONE! STOP IT!" she shrieked, clutching her head as if a tumor was growing and getting ready to burst from her skull. As if called by her outburst, one last scene appeared.

"They're dead. They're all dead! Kido, and Kano, and even Seto, they gave themselves up because I couldn't save them!" A broken Hiyori was curled up on the ground, her head against Shiro's chest as the glowing blue girl held her tight to her and stroked her sister's hair in comfort, although it was obvious that she was trying not to cry as well.

"It's not your fault Onee-chan… shhhhh…." Shiro continued to stroke Hiyori's hair and leaned her cheek against her head as the Black Mage sobbed in grief against her sister's white robed chest. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even have made it so far down Panzermast. They made their decisions, so don't blame yourself." She lifted Hiyori's head up and stared seriously into her pink eyes, brushing her hair out of her eyes and placing a hand on her cheek.

"You're the strongest Mage in the world. And the most powerful big sister. And you've done so many amazing things. But there's some things that even you can't do. And that's okay." Hiyori looked down at the ground in shame with that, but Shiro tilted her head back up, forcing her to continue looking her in the eye. "Let's get this dungeon over with once and for all. For the three of them that gave up their lives for us, okay?" Hiyori sniffled a few more times, leaning into Shiro's hand on her cheek, and then finally responded with a small nod.

Shiro grinned upon seeing her sister's agreement, and touched her forehead to the Black Mage's. "I love you, Onee-chan," she whispered sweetly, running a hand up and down her blue coated back.

Hiyori simply sniffled sadly in response, and Shiro frowned in disappointment.

"I love you, Onee-chan," she repeated, caressing Hiyori's cheek and making her look her in the eyes once more. Hiyori looked off to the side in shame, as if there was something she wanted to say, but she couldn't bring herself to say it no matter what. Shiro stared pensively for a few seconds, but of course she understood exactly what was on her beloved sister's mind, and her face melted into a kind smile once more.

"Okay then. I love you… Hiyori." With that, the glowing blue girl gently lifted up Hiyori's chin, closed her eyes, and kissed her softly on the mouth. The Black Mage's eyes widened in surprise, unable to believe that Shiro had been able to understand her conflicted heart after all these years. She felt the need to push her sister away, to separate their lips, to pretend that Shiro wasn't the one she could ever look at all these years. Ultimately, she was unable to resist the embrace of the one she loved above all else, and she touch her fingers to Shiro's cheek as well, returning the soft yet emotional kiss, clutching her glowing body tightly to hers.

"I love you too, Shiro," the real Hiyori murmured, clutching her blue coat with tightening hands. Her empty eyes stared at the platform where the apparitions of her and her sister from only a year and a half ago continued to kiss, before they finally disappeared, and the black platform along with it.

She fell to her knees with a dead thump, her head bowed. She didn't tremble, or cry, or sob. There wasn't enough of a heart left in her for that anymore.

"But… I never got to say that to you, huh? Not while you were still alive," she sighed. She raised her hand and stared at it, a spark of magic crackling up off of her index finger.

"What… good am I anyway? Who cares how powerful I am? In the end I'm just some… disgusting thing who's in love with her sister. Why are people like me allowed to exist anyway?" As she continued to talk to herself, more and more sparks and tendrils of magic jumped around her hand, running along each finger then returning to the palm. She continued to stare, as if in a trance.

"But the real question is… why am I here, while you're not? Why did I even bother trying? It's obvious that I'm nothing without you. Why haven't I already gone to your side?" Her monotone voice started to waver and shift with emotion, and the tendrils of magic responded accordingly, leaping and dashing off of her hand, and conjoining into a ball of power before her on the ground. "Please don't hate me, Shiro. I'll be with you soon. I'm done pretending that I'm able to live without you." Slowly, yet with a sense of morbid purpose, she extended an arm out to the ball of magic she had created. "Death."

Shiro clasped her hands to her mouth in panic, but Hibiya had already burst into the room. _She's trying to kill herself! _He skidded to a halt in front of the empty eyed Hiyori, just in time to witness the mess that she had landed herself into.

A shrouded figure emerged from the ground where the ball of magic had disappeared. Its bony torso was covered with a deep purple colored shawl, speckled with bits and pieces of human flesh, hair, and teeth. Within its ribcage was nothing but void, an endless pits where the souls of the damned could fall forever. The fire in its empty eye sockets burned brightly as it turned towards Hiyori, looking right through Hibiya, and it raised the scythe it gripped in both skeletal hands.

Hiyori had called for Death, and Death itself had come to take her. She stepped past Hibiya and towards the objectification of the ending of life, and she paused briefly to look at her partner over her shoulder. "Sorry," she droned in a monotone, empty eyes betraying no emotion but exhaustion. "I don't really need to be here anymore. So you keep going on your o-"

"You AND your sister, what the hell is WRONG with you two?" Hibiya suddenly barked at her, interrupting her and slightly shaking her out of her suicidal trance. "She's out there too scared to come in here and see you after a year and a half of being freaking DEAD, and you're in here spouting nonsense about how you don't need to be here? Of COURSE you need to be here, do you know how many times we've saved each other's lives ever since becoming partners? I need you to be here, dammit!" He stamped a foot on the ground urgently, pouting angrily at his partner despite the fact that Death was inching ever closer to the two. "No wonder you and Shiro love eachother so much, you're both stinkin' MORONS, you're perfect for eachother!"

Hiyori stared at the White Mage blankly, her jaw slightly agape, but this time more confused than empty. "W…W-what? She's… Shiro's out the-"

Hibiya paid no attention, and turned angrily on the shrouded creature that hovered over the two, raising his staff up in both hands. He was no longer afraid. "And YOU! There's nothing here for you to take, sorry, false alarm. So go on and crawl back to Hell!" He spun his staff around in his hands quickly, sweeping it across the air. "SHELL!"

A red sphere of neon red lines extended from Hibiya and separated the two from Death, and the White Mage leaned into the spell, gritting his teeth to keep it sturdy. Death, meanwhile, made no sudden movements. It did not even swing its scythe. Instead, it reached out slowly towards the sphere, bony digits pressing up against, almost caressing the neon lines. Hibiya felt a deep sense of dread in his soul, as if he wasn't powerful enough to keep this powerful spirit away from his partner, and that he too would be dragged into the abyss. For a split second, his stance faltered, but that was all that was needed. Death's fingers suddenly penetrated through the protective barrier, reaching agonizingly slow towards the Black Mage behind her. Hiyori, meanwhile, shuffled backwards, shaking her head and whimpering, having realized what she had just asked to be done to her.

"W-wait, no, no, just a second, wait!" she begged, true terror dimming her pink eyes, robbing her of any intimidating appearance she usually had.

And then, the door burst open one last time. A glowing blue White Mage ran forth and stopped short next to Hibiya, and spun around in a graceful pirouette, extending her leg to the side and her staff in front of her. Shiro's mouth moved, but her voice echoed in Hibiya and Hiyori's minds.

_S...Shellja! _Her kind, gentle voice rung out with urgency, and she landed on both feet, spinning her blackened staff around in her hands rapidly, tossing it from side to side, adding momentum to the spell before finally raising it up to the sky. The Shell that Death had already penetrated turned even deeper red, and expanded at an alarming rate through the room like a malignant tumor, or a star gone supernova. More and more neon lines added themselves to the barrier as Shell became Shellja.

Death struggled to keep moving through the protective barrier, to keep reaching closer to the terrified Hiyori, but to no avail; it was being pushed backwards by the combined sheer magical strength of the two White Mages. The two stood strong against the powerful spirit, Hibiya gripping his hook ended staff and Shiro gripping her heart ended staff.

Finally, they overcame. If it had vocal chords, it would have shrieked, but only silence rang out as Death disappeared.

That silence was soon broken as Hiyori crashed through the room and towards her sister's spirit. "Shiro!" she cried out, voice breaking in desperation. "SHIRO!"

She stopped short in front of the glowing blue girl, and wrapped her arms tightly around her, before pitching forward, almost tripping and falling. Shiro winced; she had no physical body for Hiyori to hold. She looked up mournfully at her big sister, and Hiyori regained her balance, staring downcast at the ground, unable to look Shiro in the eye.

"Do…" she began, but her voice cracked, giving away all the complex emotions flooding her. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and tried again.

"Do you hate me?"

The shorter girl continued to look up at her sister, tilting her head with a small curious smile. With confidence, she shook her head no, as if Hiyori had just asked a very silly question. Before the Black Mage could respond, however, Shiro dashed through Hiyori and to the other side of the room. Hiyori broke out in shivers and stepped backwards, seeing as how a ghost had just run through her.

The White Mage stopped at a door at the opposite wall. Looking over her shoulder, she flashed a huge grin at Hiyori, and touched her hand to her mouth and blew a kiss at her, before running through the closed door and out of sight.

"Wait!" Hiyori couldn't handle Shiro leaving her sight again for even one second. Crossing the room in less than a second, she slammed the door open, and was greeted by a familiar stone archway, and a pitch black staircase downwards, gently illuminated by Shiro's retreating blue glow.

Hibiya walked up to Hiyori's side and stared up at the archway with her, unsure of what to say, or even if he should say anything at all.

The Black Mage stood awkwardly for a second, fidgeting around uncomfortably before clearing her throat and turning to face her partner. "…Thank you, Hibiya. For saving me. I… shouldn't have done something like that. It won't happen again."

Hibiya simply smiled and nodded, not taking his eyes off the archway, knowing that the last thing he should do in this situation is embarrass her. He simply pointed down the now completely black stairwell. "So?"

His partner nodded back. "We go down now. Shiro wanted us to follow her. So we're going to follow her." Taking one last glance at the archway, Hiyori took her first step on the staircase, and started to descend, leaving the ruined school building behind. Hibiya, as always, followed close behind, the four words inscribed on the archway burning in his mind.

_Panzermast, Floor Three: Code._


End file.
